From Nigel Keng:
Somewhat surprised and disappointed at Keown’s comments regarding Petr Cech: “I was a bit surprised that he did not do that more often (launch it long), because there were times when Arsenal kept on losing the ball in dangerous positions and Cech’s experience should have told him to miss them out and go long.”
As former footballers and pundits go, Keown has always come across as intelligent and well spoken. However, the decision to play out from the back is clearly the manager’s and not Petr Cech’s. Yes when it was evidently not working, perhaps Cech should have made the decision to go long however if the manager has told him to play it out from the back and keep doing it then what choice does he have?
Three reasons this tactic wasn’t working :
- We don’t have the players for it
- The players aren’t used to it.
- Man City’s press was too good
If this is the way Emery wants to play then the only way the players will get better at it is by sticking to it and doing it again and again. Yes it didn’t look great or fill either the players or the fans with confidence but this is a learning curve and mistakes will be made.
The manager needs to judge whether things like this are best kept to the training ground until its ready for matchday but if he believes this is the right way to play then we’ll get there much quicker by doing it over and over again including in games, its short term pain for long term gain, practice makes perfect etc.
Maybe Emery saw this game as a free hit…did anyone really expect us to get anything against City?
What will be interesting is towards the business end of the season is if the playing out from the back isn’t working in a game will he be pragmatic and encourage the keeper to go long?
For years we’ve lamented Wenger for not being pragmatic (including over-playing in the defensive third), I think the new manager needs to stick to his guns and his beliefs.
We’ve often said there are too many ball players in our squad and not enough gritty or solid defenders. We’ve recruited Sokratis who looks solid enough but not a ball player but that’s exactly what this tactic requires. Perhaps only City (and Liverpool following a Coutinho sale) are able to afford a solid ball playing centrehalf?
Was even more disappointed with the groans coming from the crowd every time we tried to play it out from the back. The players are clearly struggling with adapting to that tactic, but this is what the manager wants so groaning/complaining during the match isn’t going to help the players.
It requires confidence to play that way and the groans from the fans aren’t going to help that, nor will the ironic cheers when Cech successfully passes the ball out of his box or kicks long.
Emery must have thought we were bunch of philistines.
To play this system the defenders need to have more courage, they need to avoid passing back to Cech, they need Ramsey and Ozil to come back deeper and offer themselves as with Xhaka dropping deep to allow the CBs to split, it was only an inexperienced Guendouzi making himself available for a pass.
Personally I don’t think the benefits of playing it out from the back this way outweigh the opportunities it creates for the opposition.
Even Man City, who have it well-honed, look vulnerable at times. But that’s another debate and if Pep believes in it who am I to argue.
And if Emery wants to play that way then so be it, let’s get behind him, the team and the players and not moan or groan when something he’s trying to change isn’t coming off.